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War CostsWar Costs is currently producing a full-length documentary film about the war on national security whistleblowers
within the U.S. government. The ramifications of such intimidation and
retaliation aimed at those who believe the truth about the government's
activities should be revealed affect all Americans. Transparent
democracy and the rights of a free press fall when sources are silenced.

The ole' "Kill the Indian Save the Man" was only to save the man to be
exploited the way the Dominent Society wanted things done. People who
protected the Earth, as the Indians did, didn't hoard, lived simply so
others could simply live, did not try to climb on the backs of others to
get to some lofty perch, were not suited to make the few rich at the
expense of others. Sharing, caring, each person on a level and even
playing field.....wow, that would not work in a system that was brought
over from Europe.

So you get rid of any way you can, kill, move,
destroy, starvation, re-indoctrinate like the Boarding Schools were all
about, keep their population low via sterilization, assimulation,
relocation, in essence wipe of the whole "Indian thinking".......each
generation had it's own portion of the story played out upon them.....

And
it doesn't stop with the Indians.......this exploitation moves and
continues to move.....because it has too under a system of exploitation.
Are you feeling it? Can you see it? What is happening to a Finite
Planet?

Many of us are talking about "Waking up....Come out of the Fog....Look behind the curtain"....various expressions

I submitted a comment - which will let us see the coverage when someone rips an article to shreds

10:06 pm MST

A grim new feud opened up on social media on Thursday as pictures were
traded of babies who died or were injured during the conflict in Gaza.
Pictures emerged of BBC cameraman Jihad Misharawi's 11-month-old son Omar,
who was killed on Wednesday during an Israeli attack. Misharawi's
sister-in-law also died in the strike on Gaza City, and his brother was
seriously injured.
Misharawi told BBC Arabic:
*Shrapnel hit our house. My sister-in-law was killed along with my son. And
my brother and my other son were wounded.*
*
**What did my son to to die like this? What was his mistake? He is ... more »

Demonstrators surrounded a German diplomat in Salonika in northern Greece
on Thursday and hurled coffee and bottles of water at him, another
reflection of growing anger in Greece against what is widely seen as a
crippling austerity plan being imposed largely by Germany.
The incident involving the diplomat, Wolfgang Hoelscher-Obermaier, flared a
day after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s special envoy to Greece, Hans-Joachim
Fuchtel, said studies showed that 1,000 German local government officials
could do the work of 3,000 Greek officials.
His remarks, which came as European leaders dalli... more »

Angela Merkel will spell out growing German concerns about the clampdown on
civil society in Russia when she meets Vladimir Putin on Friday, signalling
a sharp cooling of the traditionally close German-Russian partnership.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2d245b7e-2f3f-11e2-8e4b-00144feabdc0.html

Of the three Democrats who signed Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge only
one, Rob Andrews (NJ), will be returning to Congress. Nebraska reactionary
and corporate whore Ben Nelson was driven from office and will return to
lobbying and Kentucky Blue Dog Ben Chandler was defeated despite hundreds
of thousands of dollars wasted on his race by the DCCC. Not that big a deal
in Norquist-world. In the current Congress all but 6 of the 242 Republicans
had signed-- plus 40 of the 47 Republican senators. Yesterday in *The Hill*,
Russell Berman reported that the next Congress will be very diff... more »

*Independence is not a dirty word. Self-determination is not a dirty word.
Freedom is not a dirty word.*
"Our country has already been taken over. I want to secede back to the
Republic, back to our nation. The new world order has taken over. We're not
fighting just some corrupt politicians and it's a little political issue.
We have serious, hardcore authoritarians, Ron Paul called them yesterday
authoritarian psychopaths, in control. We know what tyranny is
historically. This is the worst case of it I've ever seen. And it's growing
and coming to fruition very, very quickly." - Al... more »

“We share the conviction that the Franco-German relationship is necessary,
it is our political inheritance,” said Mr Ayrault.
But the new Franco-German axis has yet to get in the groove on the right
euro zone dosage of austerity and stimulus; the future of Greece; and the
EU budget to 2020.
Berlin wants a more modest budget but Mr Ayrault insisted ahead of his
visit that France is “prepared neither to give up the Common Agricultural
Policy nor the cohesion funds”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/1116/1224326668211.html

The eurozone has double-dipped back into its second recession in three
years, official figures confirmed yesterday – and analysts warned economic
pain across the single currency will continue well into 2013.
Output across the 17-member bloc fell by 0.1 per cent over the third
quarter of 2012, following a 0.2 per cent decline in the second quarter,
according to Eurostat.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/eurozone-slumps-back-into-recession-after-austerity-cuts-8320658.html

The radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada has, two days after his release from
prison, had his request for a new home granted following protests outside
his supposedly secret front door. He will leave the £400,000 property in
Wembley, north-west London, where his rent is paid by the taxpayer, for a
secret address.
In a statement, his barrister Edward Fitzgerald, QC, said: "The family are
going to relocate and therefore Mr Qatada would accept the Home
Office-approved accommodation."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abu-qatada-is-moved-to-secret-address-after-protesters-targe... more »

Britain is joining forces with France to tear up an arms embargo on Syria,
allowing the West to send anti-aircraft missiles to the rebel forces
fighting to oust dictator Bashar al Assad.
David Cameron chaired a meeting of the National Security Council yesterday
which discussed a range of military options to resolve the crisis.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233732/UK-France-tear-Syrian-arms-embargo-send-weapons-arm-rebels.html

The West created and runs Israel, Hamas, the "Free Syrian Army," and the
Muslim Brotherhood - when the public needs to be manipulated, a deadly
ballet ensues.
*November 16, 2012 (LD)* - The Western allied, funded, armed, and directed
sectarian extremist organizations, namely Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood,
and their subsidiaries of Hamas and the so-called "Free Syrian Army," were
created and to this day are backed specifically to counter real opposition
to Western designs of hegemony across the Muslim World.
The West has also created and continues to perpetuate Israel as it exist... more »

A train crashed into a parade float carrying U.S. military veterans and
their spouses in West Texas on Thursday, killing four people and injuring
17, police and parade organizers said.
Ten of the hospitalized were in critical condition and seven others were
listed as stable, said Midland Police Chief Price Robinson.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-usa-texas-crash-idUSBRE8AF01O20121116

The recent attacks by the Israeli forces against the innocent people of
Gaza is now escalating out of control. It will only be a matter of time
now before the IDF rolls in its troops and tanks into the densely populated
strip, and slaughters tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians in the
process.
We have already seen the antics of the Israeli Mossad agent provocateurs
with their bottle rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip back into Israel, and
up until yesterday, the rockets have hit nothing except open fields. But
today, we have reports of several much larger (Mossad launched) m... more »

Pat Bell, the BC Liberal minister having to answer questions from the
press, questions as to why the Government turned down $44 million dollars
for the naming rights of BC Place....
Pat Bell`s answer at that time was lame, it`s still lame..
Before we get started, what is the meaning of the word *"iconic"*.....
*Answer:*
*An icon is a representation, hence a religious representation, and hence a
very powerful symbol. Iconic means "like a symbol."*
Perhaps the name Terry Fox is iconic in British Columbia, maybe the name
Trevor Linden, maybe the name Tommy Douglas, but come on...
Pat... more »

“How many arches can you count in the above image? If you count both spans
of the Double Arch in the Arches National Park in Utah, USA, then two. But
since the below image was taken during a clear dark night, it caught a
photogenic third arch far in the distance- that of the overreaching Milky
Way Galaxy.
*Click image for larger size. *
Because we are situated in the midst of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, the
band of the central disk appears all around us. The sandstone arches of the
Double Arch were formed from the erosion of falling water. The larger arch
rises over 30 meters a... more »

As an act of solidarity, world-renowned feminist writer, Margaret
Randall nominated UA student Kim Dominguez this spring, to be honored with
a brick at the Women's Plaza at the University of Arizona campus. Please
join MEChA on Fri Nov 16 - 5pm at the Woman's Plaza, next to Centennial
Hall, in honoring Kim for her unrelenting and unwavering support of human
rights in Arizona. There will be food, music and performances.

*“Quiet Desperation”*
by Chet Raymo
"As I type this, I am sipping a cup of Green Mountain Vermont Country Blend
Decaf and nibbling an Entenmann's Ultimate Cinnamon Pastry Twister. Just
thought you'd want to know. Do you also want know where I am? What I'm
wearing? I would tell you, but by the time you read this I will surely be
somewhere else, and wearing something different. And you want to know the
circumstances of my life in real time, don't you?
Of course you do. What I need is a wi-fi enabled coffee cup that will post
what I'm drinking on Twitter or Facebook, even as I drin... more »

*"Summon Your Aliveness: Being Fully Present"*
by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM
"When we live fully in the moment there is an aliveness that comes easily.
When we are fully present, we offer our whole selves to whatever it is that
we are doing. Our attention, our integrity, and our energy are all focused
in the moment and on the task at hand. This is a powerful experience, and
when we are in this state, we feel completely alive and invigorated. This
kind of aliveness comes easily when we are absorbed in work or play that we
love, but it is available to us in every moment, and we ca... more »

As I have said in many previous articles, I am truly amazed when I see so
many people lined up in front of pharmacies like sheep, willing to roll up
their arms and take their deadly shot of "vaccine" like zombies. It is
even more disgusting now, here in Canada at least, when I see stores
offering rewards, such as cash or merchandise incentives, to take their
"free" seasonal vaccines! I have reached the point now that I cannot
possibly even convince these brainwashed individuals that what they are
doing is absolutely wrong, so again, when I see them lined up like cattle,
I just tu... more »

*Majority Leader Harry (left) knows that Senator-elect Warren (right)
belongs on the Banking Committee. That's why he'll slot her in -- or maybe
why he won't.*
*by Ken*
On Tuesday Howie wrote a post called "Wall Street Kind of Lost -- But Not
Really, Of Course." As he indicated, there's no reason to believe that,
however the bodies may change, the soul of the economic team surrounding
the president in his second term is going to be solidly in the bag for Wall
Street and the banksters.
One early test of the seriousness of the Democratic alternative to the rule
of the Oligarchy of ... more »

It has become standard practice for the Israelis in all of their conflicts
with their enemies to invoke the myth of the ‘human shield’ whereby they
accuse their enemies’ fighters of using civilians as ‘human shields’
against attack. The present war against the Gazan people is no different as
the IDF’s tweet infers.
However, the ‘human shield’ notion is nothing more than a propaganda ploy
designed not just to demonise Israel’s enemies but also to mitigate
Israel’s own war crimes against a civilian population.
In the case of the wars against the people of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli... more »

Russia Today
[image: A Palestinian youth walks amid destruction following an Israeli air
strike on a residential neighbourhood in Gaza City in the early hours of
November 15, 2012. (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)]A Palestinian youth walks amid
destruction following an Israeli air strike
on a residential neighbourhood in Gaza City in the
early hours of November 15, 2012.
Israel is bombarding Gaza for a second day, with 13 Palestinians killed,
including four children, and over 100 injured. The attack’s timing is under
question with a looming Israeli election, as is the precision of airstr... more »

*“Excuse Me While I Vomit”*
by Alan Hary
"A time comes when silence is betrayal."
- Rev. Martin Luther King
Jihad al-Masharawi, a Palestinian employee of BBC Arabic in Gaza, carries
the
body of his 11-month-old son Omar, who according to hospital officials
was killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City 15 November, 2012.
“I imagine I am not the only one who feels the need to vomit (dictionary
definition - "to throw up the contents of the stomach through the mouth")
when Israel's Goebbels justifies the Zionist state's ferocious and
monstrously disproportionate attacks ... more »

NAFTA challenge launched over Quebec fracking ban - The Globe and Mail:
"Energy firm Lone Pine Resources Inc. is taking on Quebec’s fracking
moratorium, saying it violates the firm’s rights under the North American
free-trade agreement and demanding more than $250-million in compensation."
'via Blog this'
Y'see, that's the great thing about "free trade." We get sued for "lost
profits" when we try to protect our drinking water.
And the Chinese deal Harper's pushing? Shhh. It's a secret. Everything
about it is a secret. Even Diane Francis is shitting on it, for Chrissakes.
Guy's n... more »

*It’s Friday!*
Who’s rolling David Shearer? The answer: No-one.
*Guess who is rolling David Shearer?* – Monique Angel, YEA OR NAY
As per usual the discussion about the death of J J Lawrence features
arguments about child abuse being a Maori problem. Well, it isn't *solely*…
*Family violence deaths and ethnicity* – LINDSAY MITCHELL
There should have been no better “shovel ready” project than a destroyed
city, yet employment in construction continues to decline. “It's almost as
though some kind of regulatory impediments are preventing people from
rebuilding and getting on with t... more »

I remember when Lil George Bush was president, I never lasted more than
five minutes of his pressers before I felt like throwing a brick through
the screen to shut him up. Hell, it was an effort to just read the
transcripts without stroking out from disgust and outrage. It's so
different with President Obama. Whether I agree with him or not, he's a
compelling speaker. I don't tire of listening to him. I enjoy it enough
that I wish it wouldn't end most of the time. (We won't mention that first
debate ever again).
I caught his presser yesterday, first since he's been re-elected, But... more »

I can't Adam and Eve it. This post is literally the thousandth entry on
this here blog! Now, that's a lot of bullshit.
So, by way of a celebration I've delved into the archives and dug out the
ten most popular A Very Public Sociologist posts of all time. OF ALL TIME.
What lucky people you are.
In reverse order, they are:
10. Top 100 Tweeting Bloggers 2010
9. Chris Bambery Resigns from SWP!
8. Melanie Phillips: Marketing Bigotry
7. Top 100 Worst Blogs Poll
6. Top 100 Dance Songs of the 90s
5. The UK's 100 Worst Political Blogs
4. Top 100 Dance Songs of the 00s
3. Raoul Moat, Gazza,... more »

*“Five Misconceptions About Our Tattered Safety Net”*
by Paul Buchheit
"Mitt Romney said he wasn’t concerned about the very poor, because they
have a safety net. This is typical of the widespread ignorance about
inequality in our country. Struggling Americans want jobs, not handouts,
and for the most part they’ve paid for their “safety net.” The real problem
is at the other end of the wealth gap. How many people know that out of 150
countries, we have the 4th-highest wealth disparity? Only Zimbabwe,
Namibia, and Switzerland are worse.
It’s not just economic inequality that’s pla... more »

"Congressman Ron Paul's Farewell Speech to Congress"
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=q03cWio-zjk
*“Questions: *Excessive government has created such a mess it prompts many
questions:
* Why are sick people who use medical marijuana put in prison?
* Why does the federal government restrict the drinking of raw milk?
* Why can’t Americans manufacturer rope and other products from hemp?
* Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender
as mandated by the Constitution?
* Why is Germany concerned enough to consider repatria... more »

"He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no
calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics
in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of
troubles."
- Harry Fosdick

From that great sage Karen Garcia at Sardonicky: . . . today is the day the
president will be closing the deal with the billionaires - all of whom, of
course, want to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid in order to
boost the confidence of the markets. (translation: inject a giant bolus of
publicly-funded financial testosterone directly into their own over-clogged
arteries.)

*“Population Bomb: 9 Billion March To WWIII”*
By Paul B. Farrell
“Sshh. Don’t tell anyone. But “while you are reading these words, four
people will have died from starvation. Most of them children.” Seventeen
words. Four deaths. That statistic is from a cover of Paul Ehrlich’s 1968
provocative “Population Bomb.” But global population will just keep
growing, growing, growing. Why? The math is simple: Today there are more
than two births for every death worldwide. One death. Two new babies.
Bomb? Tick-tick-ticking? Or economic bubble? Population growth is a basic
assumption hard-w... more »

How much richer is America because we welcomed despised immigrants? The
story of Villa Aurora in L.A.'s Pacific Palisades helps put that question
into sharp focus. Built in 1927, it was bought (for $9,000) by German
writers Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger in 1943, after they escaped Nazi
Germany, Nazi-occupied France and fascist Spain with the help of Eleanor
Roosevelt. It became a center for German writers and artists who had
escaped the Nazis and among the luminaries that congregated there were
Bertolt Brecht, Charles Laughton, Thomas Mann, Charlie Chaplin. In 1955,
with both Feuch... more »

TIMELESS COMMENTS ON TIMELINES: Head Scratching Over the Daniel Papers
*by GW Hardin*
As a New York Times bestselling author, I often get to see a lot of things
others don’t. Because of that I feel the need to bring in additional
material to the “Daniel” papers. Reading the Daniel papers is like the
trying to drink water from a fire hose. So I will limit my comments in this
first response in the name of sanity as well as brevity. Depending on the
reaction to this balancing act with Daniel, I may provide follow-up white
papers.
*In brief, I will address three areas of par... more »

Late evening with Col. Qadhafi at his "ranch" in Libya - interesting
meeting with an interesting man. ~John McCain, August 15, 2009
Once he was a hero, revered by many for his Maverick ways. Now he's just a
small and bitter old man impotently flailing in failed attempts to land a
meaningful blow against his political betters. His stature diminishes
before our eyes, as he struggles to regain some relevance, succeeding only
in looking more the doddering fool by the minute.
But although McCain had time to speak on the Senate floor and on television
about the lack of information prov... more »

*[image: _BernardDarnton]This week, Bernard Darnton is reading the signs.*
The Signs they are A-Changing
The signs around Christchurch have changed. They used to urge us to “stay
strong” or proclaim stoically that “We Will Rebuild.” Driving back up from
Dunedin this week, I got a somewhat different sense from the billboard
asking that I “Don’t Give Up.” There’s nothing that makes you want to give
up as much as being told not to.
Something clearly had to change. The claim that we will rebuild was a
powerful rallying call in the days after the quakes. Now that claim is
farcical. Th... more »

There has been heavy bombing around our hotel here in Gaza City in the last
hour or so. Reports are coming through the Twittersphere of troops amassing
along the Israeli-Gaza border, following the Israeli announcement they are
ready for "Phase 2". The assumption here is that there will be a ground
offensive of some sort over night.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/9679883/Israeli-airstrikes-on-Gaza-live.html

Who is more valuable, a living woman or a dying fetus? The Catholic Church
has given its answer, and Savita Halapannavar is dead. If this was Islam,
we’d never hear the end of it.
Follow developments, including notifications about protests and
demonstrations, at #savita.
Help Irish women now: Every year thousands of Irish women travel to the UK
for abortion care. Between travel, accommodations, lost wages and
childcare, the expense can be prohibitive. The Abortion Support Network
offers help with funding, information, and a place to stay. Honor Savita’s
memory by donating what yo... more »

There are more than a few VanIslanders wondering why we're not a province
all unto ourselves.
If Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island qualify as provinces, why not
Vancouver Island?
In area, we're five times bigger than P.E.I. and four times more
populous. Prince Edward Island is the 23rd largest island in Canada.
That's it, a paltry 23rd.
Newfoundland is bigger than Vancouver Island, at least when you tack on
Labrador, the 4th largest island in Canada. But (you knew there was a
"but" didn't you?) Vancouver Island's population of 638,000 is
substantially greater than Newf... more »

My personal computer is dead, bricked, toast. I consider myself an expert
in computers, I've worked with various Windows Operating systems since
1987. I hold a Microsoft A++ Certification in diagnosing personal
computers and fixing them. But this latest episode takes the cake.
I experienced an unusual hack in May of 2012 after I posted the banker
resignations. It took away my account and created a new administrator
account. I logged in from another computer and posted to my blog "Hahahaha!
Very clever! Now give me back my computer!" And strangely enough, whomever
was on th... more »

Lord 'X' won a large sum of money in a libel case.
He was a great friend of the prime minister and of the prime minister's
wife.
He attended gay sex parties with at least one MP.
He was an influential friend of Israel.
He had an affair with Mr 'K', a rent-boy-loving 'Jewish' gentleman who ran
a pedophile ring for top people.
Lord 'X' went on holiday with a top man in the media who worked secretly
for the security services.
A certain media outlet published a story claiming that the police were
investigating an alleged homosexual relationship between a prominent Lord
and a man ... more »

I heard a BBC interview this afternoon with Tony Blair in his role as
official envoy of the Quartet. In this interview he said of the towns in
Israel that had been the targets of rockets fired from Gaza, that they were
indisputably part of Israel. The trouble is that Hamas and Fatah/PA think
and say very differently. To them all of Gaza is occupied Palestinian land
and their aim is the destruction of Israel and, in the case of Hamas, the
death of all Jews. It may be an inconvenient fact for Tony Blair, much of
the world's media and the idiots who scream that "We are all Hamas now"
w... more »

Did you spot the miraculous recovery of the man on a stretcher in this
video, on a stretcher injured at 2:12 but up and about and directing others
by 2:43?
I have covered Pallywood before and no doubt will again. In this instance
will the BBC cover the story after all it happened on their coverage?

I'm not sure I have a major point to make about this, but given that all
our recent presidents and most of the losing nominees seem to have either
Harvard or Yale on their resumes, and given the much-remarked dominance of
the Supreme Court by a few elite law schools, I decided to take a quick
look at the incoming class of Senators to see where they were educated.
And: nope, they aren't all from Ivy League schools.
There's only twelve of them -- nine lawyers -- so why don't I just list all
their schools:
Half went to state schools: two to Missouri, and one each to the
Universities o... more »

NOTE: See clarification below.
Totally predictably, the fetus fetishists are responding to the deliberate torture
and inevitable death of Savita Halappanavar, with bleats of 'Butbutbut,
women die of abortions too and the media ignores it!!!!'
Viz, Mrozek and on Twitter, Bertha Wilson Motion, who tweeted today:
There was silence when this abortion-related death was reported
bit.ly/SY3IVB #WarOnWomen #prolife #ReproRights #Right2Life #M312
— BerthaWilsonMotion (@BerthaWilsonMtn) November 15, 2012
Hilariously, the link leads to this (screen-capped for the
click-resistant).
Two thin... more »

I did manage a tweet earlier today when I heard that Lord McAlpine would be
taking legal action against Sally Bercow for her seemingly defamatory tweet
last week.
Couldn't happen to a less pleasant person; oops I forgot about her husband.

Willard Mittens Romney, champion of personal responsibility, figured out
why he inconceivably lost the election. It wasn't his fault. Romney on a
conference call with his disgruntled donors told them he would have won
darn it, except that President Obama was all giving out big presents like
he was freaking Santa Claus or something.
"The Obama campaign was following the old playbook of giving a lot of stuff
to groups that they hoped they could get to vote for them and be motivated
to go out to the polls, specifically the African American community, the
Hispanic community and young ... more »

Israeli forces are moving toward the Gaza border, according to the
Associated Press, in a prelude to a possible ground offensive.
The Israeli defence minister has approved the call-up of 30,000 reservists,
Sky News has confirmed.
http://news.sky.com/story/1011672/israeli-forces-move-toward-gaza-border

I don't meet a lot of people who like Stephen Harper. I meet a great many
people who dislike Stephen Harper but nonetheless say he's doing a pretty
good job as prime minister. When pressed, they routinely say that he's
"managing" the country reasonably well.
These people see Steve as a manager, an administrator, a *petit
fonctionnaire*. They don't embrace Steve's vision for the country. They
don't perceive that he has one. Yet that seems to be okay to them, at
least for now. Steve's approval ratings seem to bear that out.
What happened to leadership and vision? When ... more »

Between food shopping, laundry, neverending auto maintenance, job searching
and setting up and contributing to my dedicated book blog, *Kindle in the
Wind*, you may've noticed I've had little time, energy or inclination to
weigh in much on the top trending news topics over the past week. Chiefest
among these news items designed to distract us from the real issues such as
global warming, gun control and the imminent debt ceiling showdown is where
Petraeus's prick has been.
I'm not qualified to pontificate on that particular news item, which
includes threatening emails from one param... more »

*
Invasion order thought to be imminent. Stay tuned.*
The Israeli defence minister has approved the call-up of 30,000 reservists,
Sky News has confirmed with the Israeli Defence Force.
"There's already been an increase in movement of ground troops close to
Gaza, the movement of tanks and so on.
http://news.sky.com/story/1011672/gaza-israel-set-to-call-up-30000-reservists

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed close to Tel Aviv on Thursday, in
the first attack on Israel's biggest city in 20 years, raising the stakes
in a military showdown between Israel and the Palestinians that is moving
towards all-out war.
Earlier, a Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip,
drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to
15.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/uk-palestinians-israel-hamas-idUKBRE8AD0WL20121115

Last Friday, my left ear was in pain. Midnight that day, or early Saturday,
I went to Makati Medical Center (MMC) for a check up. There was no more ENT
(ear, nose, throat) specialist, a GP checked my ear. No wound as I
suspected, but the ear drum is infected, reddish. She gave me 3 medicines
to take:
1. anti-biotics, Co-amoxiclav 625mg tab (brand: Natravox): 2x a day for 7
days
2. pain reliever, Celecoxib 200mg cap (brand: Celebex): 2x a day for 5 days
max, or only if the pain will persist.
3. decongestant, Phenylpropanolamine HCL + ... (brand: Nafarin A): 3x a day
for 5 days.
The... more »

Under
the Hood contingent at Veterans Day Parade, Killeen, Texas, Saturday,
November 10, 2012. Photo by Susan Van Haitsma / The Rag Blog.
Defend the right to heal:
Veterans’ Day parade in KilleenAs the deployments wind down from this
decade of combat, service members are finding that their access to
medical care is restricted, denied, delayed, and stigmatized.
By Alice Embree / The Rag Blog

Alan Grayson doesn't get to vote in the lame duck session. So the ruse
of
dragging the failed Austerity Agenda across the Atlantic and inserting
on
these shores-- what DC political elites call the "Fiscal Cliff"-- isn't
something he has to go on the record about. But if you think the
congressman from central Florida's new 9th CD is just going to sit back
and
watch something this important go forward without getting involved...
then
you don't know Alan Grayson. This week he was on Cenk Uygar's *Young
Turks*show and the first question Cenk asked him was whether he supports
the
Grand ... more »

The FTSE 100 in London finished down 0.8pc at 5,677.75, while the CAC 40 in
Paris slipped 0.5pc to 3,382.40 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.8pc to
7,043.42.
Although French and German growth proved resilient, the eurozone slipped
back into recession between July and September, contracting 0.1pc on top of
a 0.2pc drop in the second quarter.
Yesterday it was revealed that Greece's economy had shrank for the 17th
consecutive quarter and is now 7.2pc smaller than it was at the same time
last year, triggering fresh protests for austerity programmes to be
overhauled.
http://www.telegraph.... more »

Former DJ Dave Lee Travis has been arrested by police investigating the
Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal, Sky sources have said.
The one time Radio One star and former presenter of Top Of The Pops is
reportedly being questioned on suspicion of sexual offences.
He was arrested by detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Operation
Yewtree at his home in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, at 7.45am, according
to sources.
http://news.sky.com/story/1011955/dave-lee-travis-arrested-by-savile-police

Judge William Wayne Kilgarlin. Image from the Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas at Austin.
Bill Kilgarlin:
A different kind of friend
On the Texas Supreme Court he showed his values and commitments had not changed and Texas was better for it.
By Jim Simons / The Rag Blog / November 15, 2012
It seems like most of my contributions to The Rag Blog have been inspired by the death of

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged European finance ministers to come up
with a quick solution for Greece's strained finances but rejected the idea
that governments might accept losses on loans already given to Athens.
"I hope that the time is near when we can reach the solution that is
needed," Merkel said when asked about Greece at a joint news conference
with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
"Of course we did not talk about debt haircuts, you know our view and that
has not changed, nor should it," she said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/us-germany-france-gr... more »

The European Union's top economic official sought to rule out any write-off
of Greece's debt to governments on Thursday after a European Central Bank
policymaker said for the first time that a "haircut" on part of it was
probable.
A row between euro zone governments and the International Monetary Fund
over how to make Greece's giant debt mountain manageable is holding up the
release of 31 billion euros ($39.5 billion) in emergency loans needed to
keep Athens afloat.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/us-eurozone-idUSBRE8AD0UK20121115

"New Gauge: 16% in US Are in Poverty" by Hope Yen Nov 15, 2012 pp. A1, A6
The article reports that 49.7 million people live in poverty when medical
costs and work related expenses are included.
RELATED POSTS
Majia's Blog: US Life Span Declining (for Some Groups)
Sep 23, 2012
Majia here: Poverty is most certainly rising in America. The Wall Street
Journal has been reporting about stagnating household income and The
Washington Post reported this week about poverty growing in high-income *...
*
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/
Majia's Blog: Killed by the Financial Crisis
Aug 23, 2012
T... more »

Majia here: Our current agricultural production regime is not sustainable
because of its heavy reliance on carbon based fuel and pesticides and
because of its deleterious effects including: soil depletion, water
contamination, and adverse health effects.
Unfortunately, children are the canaries in this agricultural coal mine.
Their afflictions should mobilize us to act now to create a safe and
sustainable agricultural production system.
As these articles demonstrate, the current system is destroying the
environment and us:
The Problem Is Clear: The Water Is Filthy by P. L. Brown (... more »

The
fallen bull. Image from Tumblr.
A legacy of Occupy:
Sticking it to Wall Street
The Occupy movement energized a vanguard of voters to become more
populist in their demands.
By Tom Hayden / The Rag Blog / November 15, 2012
It is unfortunate that Occupy Wall Street lost its momentum after the
uprisings of 2011, because the election and its results have opened
another opportunity to stick

America's advance as a true corporatist state was given a huge boost by the
USSC's decision in *Citizens United*. That decision launched the United
States into its first $6-billion election.
Money talks and it talks loud and clear in America's "bought and paid for"
Congress. When then Republican House leader John Boehner can stroll the
floor distributing tobacco lobby cheques just prior to a vote on tobacco
subsidies, the situation goes far beyond lousy optics.
American business, it seems, is discovering that buying political
allegiance is a game that can be played elsewhere. ... more »

Almrei v. Canada (Attorney General), 2012 ONCA 779 makes the often
overlooked point that appeals are from orders and not reasons for orders:
[10] An appeal lies from an order and not from the reasons of the
court below:*Grand River Enterprises v. Burnham* (2005), 10 C.P.C. (6th)
136 (Ont. C.A.), at para. 10. Because the appellant's only ground of appeal
is that issue estoppel should apply, he is taking issue with the motion
judge's reasons and not his order dismissing the motion for partial and
summary judgment.

Matt Yglesias had a nice item yesterday about a tanning salon owner who
reportedly killed himself, blaming Barack Obama. The point Yglesias made
was that, this tragedy aside, in his view the tanning tax is a silly way to
finance the ACA.
I have no idea whether he's right or not. But it brings up a major question
about health care reform and the Republicans. As many of us have said many
times, the consequence of the original rejectionist gamble the GOP made in
2009-2010 was that they had a lot less input into...well, into anything
than they would have had if they had instead attempte... more »

Amazon have just updated my Author Central page, ensuring that readers have
a centralised place to get all the latest novels, collections and news
about forthcoming titles.
MIKE PHILBIN'S AUTHOR CENTRAL PAGE.

Running around like the chicken with the head cut off these days.
Here's what I'm reading on the GO Bus and the subway:
*The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China* by
Jay Taylor. It's fairly recent (2009) and makes use of a lot of recently
released archival material to construct a sympathetic portrait of China's
KMT leader during the mid-20th Century. It encompasses his entire life, so
there'll be a lot of stuff about Taiwan which will be brand new to me.
Chiang Kai-shek is generally not well treated by history. He was seen as a
ruthless, colourless autocr... more »

It's the soap opera that shocked official Washington and ensnared a
previously squeaky clean CIA director at a time when he was supposed to
play a role in the accounting for a possible security misstep in Libya.
We don't know all the facts of why the FBI started investigating David
Petraeus' biographer and how it ultimately led to his resignation.
But a growing number of conservative commentators contend that the
resignation of former CIA Director David Petraeus is more than simple
amends made for a personal wrong.
http://news.yahoo.com/start-voice-petraeus-affair-conspiracy-theory-... more »

Sally Bercow will be the first person to receive a letter from Lord
McAlpine's legal team after he was wrongly linked to a child sex abuse
scandal, Sky sources have revealed.
The Tory was wrongly accused because of a botched Newsnight investigation
and is poised to reach a settlement with the BBC.
http://news.sky.com/story/1011737/mcalpine-bercow-first-to-get-lawyers-letter

Spain approved measures on Thursday to help the most needy families facing
eviction, a growing problem in the recession-bound nation highlighted last
week by the suicide of a woman whose home bailiffs came to seize.
The government said it would suspend evictions for two years for vulnerable
homeowners who can no longer pay back debt, including those with small
children, the disabled and long-term unemployed.
"This is an emergency response to mitigate the effects of the worst of the
economic crisis," Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said at
a weekly press conference.
... more »

A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday,
drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to
15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of
the enclave.
On the second day of an assault Israel said might last many days and
culminate in a ground attack, its warplanes bombed targets in and around
Gaza city, where tall buildings trembled.
Plumes of smoke and dust furled into a sky laced with the vapor trails of
outgoing rockets.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/us-palestinians-israel-hamas-idUS... more »

Southern Man will not bore you with SC12 conference details today, as it
was mostly more of the same. Instead he will (first) take you on a journey
into the geeky past.
Southern Lad discovered *Star Trek* in Jr. High School, when the series was
first in reruns. He'd actually seen one episode in first run - *This Side
Of Paradise* - a few years earlier. And he was completely taken by this
marvelous and imaginitive show. To the point that he would set up his
cassette-tape recorder and audio-tape the episodes (the long-suffering
Southern Mother would start the tape for him, as the bus... more »

*THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012*
*The disgrace of Anderson Cooper:* Who the heck is Susan Rice, “this girl”
we’re considering for secretary of state?
To get a rough idea, we will recommend this report by her most
authoritative biographer. Meanwhile, let’s offer two more examples of the
low-IQ garbage which went on the air last night.
Let’s skip the comments of John McCain, one of the dumbest, angriest people
in recorded history. Speaking with the equally hapless Anderson Cooper,
McCain helped us see why he famously graduated 894th out of 899 in his
Annapolis class.
Let’s skip this a... more »

*THIS*
*Is what the leadership of the American Legislative Exchange Council looks
like – whacko right-wing extremist crazies.*
Georgia‘s top lawmaker, Republican Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers,
believes President Obama is using a Soviet-era mind control program on
America to force the UN’s Communist agenda of killing small towns, moving
Americans into big cities. And before you laugh or enter into some other
state of non-belief, thinking no lawmaker is this ridiculous, know that
there’s video of this.
And before you make some assumption about old white Republican men, you
sho... more »

*R. v. W.E.B* deals with a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. The
Court summarizes the test:
To succeed on his ineffective assistance claim, the appellant must
discharge his onus to establish: (1) the facts that underpin his claim; (2)
the representation provided by his trial counsel was incompetent; and (3)
his counsel’s incompetent representation resulted in a miscarriage of
justice: *R. v. Joanisse* (1995), 102 C.C.C. (3d) 35 (C.A.); leave to
appeal to S.C.C. refused, [1996] S.C.C.A. No. 347; *R. v. T.* (L.C.) 2012
ONCA 116. Incompetence is determined by a reasonableness... more »

Why aren't the Wall Street banksters being charged criminally for the fraud
and deception at the heart of the financial crisis. Two prominent
economists have asserted publicly that criminal action was involved in the
crisis:
Kenneth Galbraith on Financial Industry Criminality and Economists' Lapses
http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/Flyers/GalbraithMay4SubCommCrimeRV.pdf
William Black on Financial Criminality: http://
www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/the-two-documents-everyon_b_169813.html
Here is what Kenneth Galbraith had to say about criminal behaviors in the
crisis:
[Excerpte... more »

Morning! Check out Reed Wood‘s post at Political Violence @ a Glance on
the lack of improvement in core physical integrity rights over time. It’s
not just the Political Terror Scale, either – the Physical Integrity Index
from Cingranelli and Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset shows the same
lack of improvement over time. Update: Check
Continue reading

*THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012*
*Jake Tapper goes slumming with Imus:* Ever since he got fired from MSNBC,
Don Imus has worked under radar.
That doesn’t mean that he’s not on the air! Yesterday morning, before the
press conference, he was ruminating about “this girl,” Susan Rice:
IMUS (11/14/12): And then on another note— Of course there's nothing you
can do about it, but are you telling me that Susan Rice, this is a woman
who went out there and lied about the Benghazi thing, knew she was lying,
trying to tell us it was all about this video. *We're talking about this
girl being secre... more »

Last week, Garry Wills -- who has made a career of evaluating America's
presidents and would be presidents -- asked in the *New York Review of
Books*:
What lessons will Romney have to teach his party? The art of crawling
uselessly? How to contemn 47 percent of Americans less privileged and
beautiful than his family? How to repudiate the past while damaging the
future? It is said that he will write a book. Really? Does he want to
relive a five-year-long experience of degradation? What can be worse than
to sell your soul and find it not valuable enough to get anything for it?
His... more »

*THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012*
*The best Kwame Holman can do:* As everyone knows, PBS’ wonderful NewsHour
is our smartest TV news program.
Last evening, this was the best Kwame Holman could do while reporting on
Susan Rice. Please note the highlighted statement:
HOLMAN (11/14/12): Also on reporters’ agenda today, harsh criticism of U.N.
Ambassador Susan Rice by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John
McCain. *They strongly criticized her for saying the attack on the U.S.
consulate in Benghazi, Libya, had been a spontaneous outburst of Muslim
anger, when officials already knew it... more »

By Capt. Fogg
You'd think George W. Bush was never born or had never been president,
since you never hear from him or about him and are often accused of some
kind of dementia if you mention his legacy. To be sure, I'm grateful that
he's keeping quiet and hasn't spent years making dire predictions of doom
and accusations of treason like other parts of the still twitching corpse
of his administration -- none of which have come to pass, by the way.
Perhaps his quiet reclusiveness has to do with the GOP plan to redact him
from the record so that they can't be accused of wrecking the co... more »

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I've been 'around' for a few years now, pursuing the shifting goal of a sharable home-made surfers resource site focused on ease of use and variety of mostly adult ( whoa : I didn't say prurient ) content.